Community Schools That Focus on

Restructuring Foundations
By:
Morgan Bufler, Alyson Schenz, Allison McCabe, and McCaulley Longwell

Abstract:

The purpose of our school is to create a curriculum the prepares, engages and teaches

fundamental skills to young minds all while supporting their surrounding community. We plan to

implement programs that enrich our students in the community and promote basic life skills.

Driving Question:

Our driving question was created from combining all of our CARs or tensions we found

within our schools. We all noticed different foundational aspects that were negatively affecting

students in these school environments.

How can restructuring foundations of curriculum influence the overall school environment?

Mission Statement:

Our mission is to prepare, engage, and teach foundational skills to young minds while supporting

our communities.

Tensions:

Morgan:

The tension I noticed was my students were very restless due to a lack of play or

movement in the classroom, which translated into behavioral and academic issues, such as being

off task, talking out of turn, or getting out of their seats. In turn, the teacher would yell at the
students for not being respectful or paying attention. The reaction from the teacher would make

the students misbehave and act out even more in a never ending cycle.

Allison:

The tension I noticed was that my students werent receiving instruction in anything

besides Language Arts and Math. There was also a strong focus on testing skills also known

as teachers teaching to the test. This caused students to become unengaged, unmotivated, and

just completely bored with school. Because of this, it led to behavioral problems within the

classrooms which would result in my teacher yelling at the students.

Alyson:

The tension I noticed in my classroom, and school in general, was how many students

were missing school due to suspensions. In addition to the number of students missing school, I

noticed how much schooling was being missed from being gone all the time. This made me

speculate if there could be any alternate ways in which disciple could be dealt with before

suspension was seen as the answer, as it was typically the first option for many of the children

and it affected them not only academically, but socially.

McCaulley:

The tension I noticed in my classroom was how discipline was affecting students ability

and willingness to learn. In my field placement, it seems like the whole day is centered around a

colored clip chart. There have been other classrooms that I have been in that this behavior

system wasnt used and things ran even smoother. This led me to wonder if we changed up the

way we ran our classrooms, would the behavior in them be improved?

Curriculum:
Place and Project-Based Learning

We want our students to learn foundational skills for the future to help carry them

throughout their lives. Some objectives we want our students to learn include independence,

responsibility, community awareness, investigation, collaboration, and problem solving. We

believe these skills are products of place and project-based learning.

Through project and placed-based learning, we want our students to learn about the

community and environment around them through inquiry and hands-on investigation by

implementing projects that are embedded in the standards. It is our belief that you cannot have

one without the other for the best curriculum is best intertwined with these two philosophies.

Project-based learning is described as in-depth investigations that involve students in design and

investigative activities and that culminate in a final product or debriefing event (Foulger at al,

2009. P. 339). This means the students are in charge of their learning through projects that they

create based on their own interests. The teacher acts as a mediator to ensure the projects meet

grade-level standards and negotiates with the students on how they wish to present and organize

the information or data found.

Place-based learning is described as schooling in a democratic society, therefore, ought

to be at least as much about enculturation into responsible community life as it is in enculturation

into productive economic life... (Tolbert & Theobald, 2006. P. 272). Place-based learning is

about delving into the community and using the community to learn about the world. Students

will benefit from this because the projects they help create will be about where they live. The

students can get a better sense of where they live and how the fit into the community while the

community will be actively engaged with their young peoples learning and can assist them in

their contributions to make the community better. The constructivist theory, which supports both
place and project-based learning, is where students will conduct their own understandings of the

world and through experiences and then reflecting on those experiences in order to build a

deeper understanding of the world around them (Tolbert & Theobald, 2006. P. 270). Our

students will do this through experiments and real-world problems based on the community they

live in.

A case study from the article The Negotiated Project Approach: Project-Based Learning

without Leaving the Standards Behind researched a first grade classroom that implemented

project-based learning. A collaborative environment was crucial and the teacher allowed her

students interests to be at the forefront of the four-week project. The researchers measured how

well the teacher, Mrs. Rathkey integrated the standards, distributed responsibility, encouraged

mistakes, promoted independence, gave honest feedback, and if she put the students interests

first. The students were also able to negotiate with the teacher about their focus for their project

and how they want to present their findings and implement their writings.

Mrs. Rathkey encouraged the making of mistakes because mistakes are a natural

consequence of independent problem solving. They can serve as teachable moments for all of the

children, not just the one making the mistake (Foulger at al, 2009. P. 344). Mistakes are

extremely important for project-based learning because experiments and investigations are all

about trial and error and it is important for students to understand that mistakes will make them

better and they will learn more from them. Mrs. Rathkey also took a hands-off approach when it

came to the projects the students were devising because she wanted them to work together to

come up with solutions and ideas first. She only intervened when the students got stuck, but

even then she did not give them answers but merely asked questions to help them get back on

track.
 These are the types of experiences and learning environments we want to foster to help

our students reach their full potential. As a result of these measures from the case study, The

teacher felt successful with meeting grade level learning needs, and the students were given the

opportunity to fuel their learning by expressing their natural interests and curiosities, and become

problem solvers.(Foulger at al, 2009). Place-based learning is a great way to get community

partnerships involved, which in turn leads to project-based learning as the curriculum.

Community partnerships can assist in creating projects, such as a florist coming to help the

students develop a garden in the schools breezeway. This garden development, along with the

florists help, can become a science project/lesson on living and nonliving things. Other

partnerships and how they tie into place and project-based learning will be gone into more detail

later on in this paper.

Discipline

Going back to the tension on discipline, our school wants to use alternate ways in which

to deal with this issue. Suspension, for our school, isnt really an option for us because we want

to ensure all students are getting the most out of their education and the first step in doing so is

being present in the classroom. The only time we will ever consider suspension is when it is

safety related, for example, if one student harms another. In this case, our suspension rule is that

it will last no more than two days in order to get the student back in the classroom as quickly as

possible.

First, for a preventative strategy, we believe a way to help alleviate stress and tensions si

through recess. We will ensure every grade in our school has some time for recess in order for

students to release energy and to help lessen behavioral issues. For actually dealing with
discipline, we want our teachers to handle all problems in house. For example, we will encourage

teachers to begin their days with morning meetings. This will first and foremost create a strong

sense of community within the classroom which will, in turn, allow student to become

comfortable with sharing any information they wish.

In addition, we want to work on anger management issues by practicing mindfulness. An

example of this is meditation, which when practiced again and again, opens the door to a

lifetime of learning, especially about our inner landscapes (Reuben, 2011). While researching a

study Richard Reuben did on himself when practicing mindfulness, he was able to say with

great confidence that bringing mindfulness into the classroom cultivated these qualities of

openness and receptivity, clarity, courage, and compassion (reuben, 2011). This was really

refreshing to discover because it shows proof that everyone could use mindfulness practices to

help themselves become more aware and comfortable when solving problems. In addition,

Reuben explain how working with mindfulness can allow you to work in tune with distractions

that may be going on around you and work more effectively with what seems to be going on at

that very moment.

Another study on mindfulness found an elementary school in Baltimore, Maryland, who

took away detentions and replaced them with mindfulness activities. In this school, if a student

wasnt following the rules, they were sent to a mindfulness room and were asked to calm

down. This study found that using mindfulness strategies helps children recognize their thoughts

and emotions, as well as helps them get in touch with their emotion and become more aware of

their inner experience (Tarantino, 2017). Overall, mindfulness improves the classroom

environment for both teacher and student and will ultimately help children develop self-

awareness and concentration and carry that with them throughout their lives because it helps to
calm the mind and body and become more in control of emotions (Tarantino, 2011).

Another strategy we will enforce is the use of Tribes. The point of Tribes, according to

Alfie Kohn, is to engage students in deep critical reflection about certain ways of being

(Gibbs). A tribe will include about five students in a group who will help one another solve

personal problems. This can also be done in a whole group setting, like through the Community

Circle. The Community Circle is where the whole class gets in a circle on the class carpet, for

example, and each person is allowed a turn to share their thoughts and feelings regarding the

topic for that Tribes circle. If this were done in morning meeting on a Monday, which is up to the

teachers discretion, the topic could be about what the students did over the weekend. Each

student can decide to share what they did over the last couple of days or they could choose to

pass. However, everyone has to wait their turn in the circle before speaking to show respect for

their peers.

Other than waiting for your turn to speak, there are four rules linked to using Tribes. For

example, each child must display attentive listening, appreciation and not putting others down,

mutual respect with your peers, and the right to pass if you do not wish to share (About Tribes).

The main idea of using Tribes is to get the students to work together to talk through and solve

their problems with one another, which encourages collaboration. The classroom teacher will

also be involved in Tribes as the facilitator, but only if they are trained to do so. The use of

Tribes will inevitably make the classroom feel more like a community where students will want

to share their thoughts, feelings, and ideas with their peers.

Special Education

Special education is something we really want to focus on in our school. Something our

building will offer is a sensory room. We really wanted a place where our students with
disabilities can go to have a chance to develop and engage their senses. This room will hold all

types fofo sensory materials, such as a bubble tube, cloud chairs, airwalker swings, crash mats,

etc. This room will be beneficial because it enhances sensory stimulation to help react and

interact with the larger world. It also enhances play and learning because it engages different

parts of the brain. Lastly, it will help improve and tackle problems with behavior because it helps

provide comfort and calm for overactive individuals.

If students are unable to go to the schools sensory room, we will ensure each classroom

will have sensory materials. These materials include, but are not limited to, water beads, play-

doh, sand, and more in order to stimulate the brain in the classroom, which also helps keep the

child included. In terms of inclusion, we strongly believe this is important for all students. For

the student with disabilities, inclusion ensures that they will be able to learn alongside their non-

disabled peers in a general education classroom.

In addition, we want all students in the special education program to work on executive

functioning skills. The main skills we want to focus on are organizational skills, self-regulation

skills, such as having an on-task checklist, personal schedules, which will be personalized to the

child based on their needs, and using green and red circles to indicate when the child needs help

in the classroom. Lastly, our school will implement intervention strategies to meet each students

needs.

Teacher Recruitment and Partnerships:

Our school is lead behind a strong principal. We thought this was a great quality to have

because that will let the teachers know that the principal is behind you with decisions that need

to be made. There is collaboration among the teachers both in their grade levels and beyond. K
can talk to 1st grade teachers so that they can make sure they know their students are on the right

track for what theyre going to learn in the next grade.

Teacher training is another aspect we focused on. We heavily focused on mindfulness

and TRIBES training. Tribes training is 2 parts. Each part is 2 days long and 12 hours. So in total

it is a 24 hour, 4 day training. Part 1 is titled: Creating a caring learning community. Part 2 is

titled: Integrating curriculum and technology. Both of these teacher trainings are hands on and

interactive.

We hope that parents can be heavily involved in their child's education. We encourage

them to come into class before or after school, sign up during the day to be a special guest

reader and come in to help with activities and parties.

There are many partnerships that we hope to have in our school community. Through

these partnerships we hope to get some funding for school projects, and field trips. The local

nursing home will sponsor our schools grandparent program. The grandparent program is where

grandparents come into our school to assist students in class, interact inside and outside of class.

The grandparent will serve as a positive role model. We also will pursue a partnership with a

local florist. Having this partnership will lead to a school garden. With a school garden this could

lead to a lesson in a science class and teaching our students responsibility.

After school clubs will be in our school. Students may enroll in the following classes so

that they have somewhere to go after school if home isnt an option; home alone, better

babysitter, cooking, Big Brother Big Sister, and tutoring.

Peer pals is a program where K and 2nd are paired. 1st and 3rd are paired. Each student is

paired with a buddy. These buddies are for each students to look up to. They will do activities

together during the school day and is a way to promote friendships beyond grades.
Assessment:

As we mentioned our school is K-3. In grades K-1 we chose to focus on portfolios that

are student created to show their growth over time. This helps teachers communicate with the

student and will encourage the students to perform self evaluations. Grades 2-3 will still get

portfolios but will focus on technical grading. That way they can personally recognize what is

required out of the assignment given and it promotes responsibility.

We will use portfolios during conferences. Both teacher and student lead. Rubrics will be

used. All rubrics will be given to the students in advance. Observations will be used all year

round. They provide instant feedback. We want to focus on observations in our school so that we

know their progress and where they stand at all times. Seeing growth throughout the year will be

done using running records. CBMs (curriculum based measurements) will be used in our school.

DIBELS and MAP will be given once a quarter. We dont want to test our students all the times.

School Environment:

Our school building will be located within the center of the community. Because our

school has such a strong focus on community, this is essential to allow our curriculum to be

successful. Because our school is center to the community, it will impact school attendance in a

positive way because students can get themselves to school. Specifically in reference to the

layout, we wanted to focus on having the school center around the community room. This room

would be used for internal school programs between the grades and also different partnership

programs with community members.

The library will be located at the front of the school, to allow access to community

members as well. The communitys public library will run our school library, enhancing the

available resources. This library is important in order to cultivate our play based and project
based curriculum, using a diverse library with different novels, stories and texts. Readers

Theater with puppets and other dramatic materials will be used in order to foster creativity.

We will also use pods to group grade levels, creating smaller communities within the

school building. In addition to this, we will have breezeways, which will house our school

gardens, connecting these grade pods. These will be useful for our peer pals program, previously

talked about. The sensory room is also a large portion of our school layout. This room will not

only be available to children on IEPs, but all students who feel they need it. There will also be

additional sensory materials within each classroom. This easy and accessible layout was created

so that all students can be successful and feel comfortable in the larger school community.

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